Impacts and Achievements of Natural Resources Faculty

Since its establishment until July 21, 2025, the faculty members of the Faculty of Natural Resources have published 307 scholarly articles in domestic and international journals and have presented 919 papers at reputable national and international conferences. During this period, they have authored 62 books and supervised 792 theses with an emphasis on addressing and resolving the natural resource challenges of the country and Kurdistan province. Furthermore, 114 internal and externally funded university projects have been completed, and one international research grant has been secured.

The following table highlights a selection of the faculty's academic honors and achievements:

Academic Achievements Table
No. Year Category Author/Researcher Achievement Title
1 2007 Patent Registration Maki Kuwatanabe, Babak Souri Index named Processed a*/b* for estimating expansion capacity of soils and other naturally dynamic porous environments
2 2008 Scientific identification and cave discovery Saeed Khezri Scientific identification and discovery of Tojal Cave
3 2011 National Elite Foundation Award Vahid Zamani Shahid Tehrani Moghaddam Award from National Elite Foundation
4 2011 Scholarship Vahid Zamani European Nextgen project scholarship for PhD degree with participation of France, Italy, England and Switzerland
5 2011 Scientific Award Jamil Amanollahi Malaysia Country Research and Innovation Award
6 2014 New species discovery Barzan Bahrami Kamangar, Idris Ghaderi Description of three new fish species from genus Oxynoemacheilus
7 2015 Cultural Heritage Organization Hedayat Ghazanfari Registration of indigenous knowledge of Galazni in the national list of intangible cultural heritage
8 2015 Outstanding Project Farshid Ghorbani, Souran Kamari Outstanding project: Use of silica extracted from rice husk in synthesis of magnetic silicate nanopores - Innovative nanotechnology projects program - Vice President for Science and Technology - Nanotechnology Development Headquarters
9 2016 New species discovery Barbad Safaei Mahroo, Hanieh Ghaffari Description of new genus and species Parsigecko ziaiei
10 2016 Outstanding Project Hanieh Ghaffari, Barbad Safaei Mahroo Selected project of Khuzestan province from the first festival of successful experiences of environmental NGOs, Environmental Protection Organization
11 2018 New species discovery Barbad Safaei Mahroo, Hanieh Ghaffari Description of new species Hemidactylus kurdicus
12 2018 National Environment Award Hanieh Ghaffari, Barbad Safaei Mahroo Twelfth National Environment Award, Environmental Protection Organization
13 2017 International standard development Seyed Ali Johari Development of ISO international standard No. 20787 titled "Nanotechnologies — Aquatic toxicity assessment of manufactured nanomaterials in salt water lakes using Artemia sp. nauplii."
14 2018 Patent Registration Farshid Ghorbani, Frank Faghiri Patent registration: Production and application of alginate-silver solid nanosensor in mercury colorimetry (LSPR solid kit containing silver nanoparticles)
15 2018 Publication Vahid Zamani Publication of two articles in Nature group journals
16 2018 Outstanding Researcher Himan Shahabi Selected as outstanding researcher at Kurdistan University
17 2019 Patent Registration Farshid Ghorbani, Ashkan Miri Patent registration: Design and construction of optical reactor based on glass beads with Alginate/Cu@Ag-APTMS/boehmite nanostructure membrane
18 2019 Environmental Award Hanieh Ghaffari, Barbad Safaei Mahroo Second Dr. Radmanesh Environmental Award, 2019
19 2020 Patent Registration Babak Souri, Roya Ahmadi, Massoud Ebrahimi Patent registration: Insulated ceramic blocks
20 2020 International Recognition Himan Shahabi Selected as one of the top 2% scientists worldwide based on Stanford University list
21 2020 National standard development Seyed Ali Johari Development of Iranian national standard No. 22852 titled "Nanotechnology-assessment of toxicity of manufactured nanomaterials in saltwater lake aquatic organisms using Artemia sp. nauplii"
22 2020 Cultural Heritage Organization Omid Binandeh, Loghman Ghahramani, Hedayat Ghazanfari Registration of indigenous knowledge of charcoal making in intangible cultural heritage list
23 2020 Outstanding university book Hanieh Ghaffari, Barbad Safaei Mahroo Outstanding book of Kurdistan University publications
24 2020 National biodiversity book award Hanieh Ghaffari, Barbad Safaei Mahroo Selected book for National Biodiversity Award
25 2021 National standard development Seyed Ali Johari Development of Iranian national standard titled "Nanotechnology-toxicity assessment of nanomaterials using dechorionated zebrafish embryo"
26 2021 New species discovery Habibollah Mohammadi, Idris Ghaderi Description of one genus and three new chironomid species
27 2023 Patent Registration Farshid Ghorbani, Ameneh Mahmoudzadeh Patent registration: Production of cellulose-chitosan sponge absorbent for oil pollutants and organic compounds
27 2023 National outstanding university project Hanieh Ghaffari National outstanding university research project by Ministry of Science, Research and Technology
28 2024 National Elite Foundation Award Vahid Zamani Outstanding faculty member award Dr. Kazemi Ashtiani
29 2021 New species discovery Habibollah Mohammadi, Idris Ghaderi, Farshid Ghorbani, Arman Mansouri, Armin Namayandeh Description of new records of genus and species of aquatic insects from Chironomidae family
30 2023 New species discovery Milad Joukar, Barzan Bahrami Kamangar, Idris Ghaderi Description of species Glyptothorax sardashtensis from catfish family
31 2023 New record description Halil Ebrahimi, Habibollah Mohammadi, Idris Ghaderi, Erfan Karimian Description of new aquatic insect record for Iran Glossosoma unguiculatum from order Trichoptera
32 2023 New species discovery Halil Ebrahimi, Habibollah Mohammadi, Idris Ghaderi, Erfan Karimian, Arman Mansouri, Farshad Moloudi Description of new aquatic insect species Athripsodes saral sp from order Trichoptera
33 2023 New species discovery Halil Ebrahimi, Habibollah Mohammadi, Idris Ghaderi, Erfan Karimian Description of new species Hydropsyche kurdistanica from order Trichoptera
34 2023 New species discovery Idris Ghaderi, Halil Ebrahimi, Habibollah Mohammadi, Armin Namayandeh Description of new aquatic insect species Paracricotopus davoodi sp from Chironomidae family
35 2023 New genus discovery Armin Namayandeh, Patrick Hudson, Idris Ghaderi, Adrian Vasquez, Jeffrey Rahm Description of new aquatic insect genus Alaskacladius from Chironomidae family
36 2023 New species discovery Armin Namayandeh, Patrick Hudson, Idris Ghaderi, Wendylee Stott Description of new aquatic insect species Zavrelia parapentatoma from Chironomidae family
37 2023 New species discovery Armin Namayandeh, Patrick Hudson, Idris Ghaderi, Wendylee Stott Description of new aquatic insect species Zavrelia parapentatoma from Chironomidae family
38 2024 New species discovery Idris Ghaderi, Armin Namayandeh, Halil Ebrahimi, Habibollah Mohammadi, Erfan Karimian, Farshad Moloudi, Arman Mansouri Description of 2 new aquatic insect species Diamesa sahandensis sp. and Sympotthastia golalae sp from Chironomidae family
39 2024 New species discovery Halil Ebrahimi, Habibollah Mohammadi, Idris Ghaderi, Erfan Karimian Description of new aquatic insect species Drusus chelchamaensis from order Trichoptera
40 2025 New species discovery Armin Namayandeh, Idris Ghaderi Description of 2 new aquatic insect species Paracricotopus niger and Paracricotopus uliginosus from Chironomidae family